Aquila spilogaster An inhabitant of woodland and savanna habitats, the African Hawk-Eagle is a medium-sized eagle preying primarily on birds, mammals and reptiles up to 4kg in weight – no small feat for a bird that itself weighs only about 1.5kg (females are slightly bigger than males). African Hawk-Eagles are normally encountered in monogamous, territorial […]
African Hawk-Eagle — de Wets Wild
Bubo africanus The Spotted Eagle-owl is one of our most frequently encountered nocturnal birds, even in towns and cities where they can become quite confiding with humans (beware though that they will defend their nests ferociously!). They’re not very picky about their habitat and feed on an enormous variety of rodents and other small mammals, […]
Spotted Eagle-owl — de Wets Wild
Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes fosteri) populations in 2019 were found to have grown by up to 10% since 2009 – to as many as 282,150 breeding pairs (up from about 256,500) out of a total population of over 600,000 birds (Fretwell et al. 2012; Fretwell and Trathan 2020; Trathan et al. 2020) – despite a loss […]
Emperor penguin numbers rise as biologists petition for IUCN Red List upgrade — polarbearscience
The Guardian reports When Onon the common cuckoo took off from Mongolia last June no one expected him to make a 26,000km round trip to southern Africa When Onon took off above the rolling hills of the Khurkh valley in Mongolia last June, researchers had no idea if they would see him alive again. Along with one […]
Cloud cuckoo land? How one bird’s epic migration stunned scientists — Natural History Wanderings
Vanellus lugubris The Senegal Lapwing, also known as the Lesser Black-winged Plover, is a rather uncommon denizen of open savannas and woodlands with a covering of short grass, being especially fond of recently burned veld, and prone to localised migrations as soon as the grass cover grows too long for them to easily find the […]
Senegal Lapwing — de Wets Wild
Spice of Life: “Reed-Jumper of Louisiana” They do seem to be the busiest birds in the forest–always flittin’ and hoppin’ and tellin’ you like it is. Find out more about the little brown, plucky bird with a pert tail living in your neck of the woods.
Spice of Life: “Reed-Jumper of Louisiana” — Wild Open Eye – Natural Vision, News from Wild Open Eye
Merops pusillus The Little Bee-eater is, at a weight of about 15g and length of around 16cm, the smallest of Africa’s bee-eaters and probably also in the world. Despite their small size they’re excellent at catching the bees, wasps and hornets that make up the bulk of their diet. Seldomly encountered far from water, Little […]
Little Bee-eater — de Wets Wild
Off the Pacific coast of Colombia lies a gem of biodiversity so valuable it was named a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site in 2006. The island is so remote, 500 km (311 miles) west of the Colombian port of Buenaventura, travel there takes 36 hours by boat. This location preserves unique species, not only birds […]
The Wonders of Malpelo Island — Fake Flamenco
Stuff.com Ninety per cent of New Zealand’s sea birds are at risk of extinction, as “serious pressures” threaten the future of New Zealand’s oceans. The Our Marine Environment 2016 report, released on Thursday by Statistics NZ and the Ministry for the Environment, found that New Zealand had the highest number of threatened seabird species in […]
90 % New Zealand Sea Birds Face Extinction Risk — Natural History Wanderings
The BBC reported that Hen Harriers are close to extinction in England as the only two nesting pairs in the country failed to breed. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said this is the first time since the 1960’s that the harriers have not produced even one chick. The RSPB blamed private […]
English Hen Harriers Face Extinction Risk — Natural History Wanderings
